


Afterlife

by Sue Corkill (mscorkill)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-19
Updated: 2012-05-19
Packaged: 2017-11-05 15:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/407946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mscorkill/pseuds/Sue%20Corkill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel gets some unexpected help in making a decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afterlife

**Author's Note:**

> In a past life, I wrote a lot of Dan & Jan fic...and recently had an idea for a wee D&J fic.   
> I haven’t written any Dan & Jan in years, but this idea wouldn’t leave me alone. Dedicated to the Dan & Jan list, may their enthusiasm never wane!
> 
> Originally posted October 2005.

AFTERLIFE

She sat in the back booth sipping the coffee the harried-looking waitress had brought to her. Even though she was the only waitress and appeared to be running her feet off, the woman’s eyes had been kind and understanding. Like she was used to being overworked and bringing endless cups of coffee to weary and bewildered travelers. Not that she was weary and bewildered, though she did feel a bit lost. No, not so much lost, she mused, just out of place somehow. She really wasn’t sure why she was here…in this diner…which she instinctively knew existed on some metaphysical plane of reality. 

Oh, Janet Fraiser knew she was dead, that she had died from wounds received in battle. And while her death had been violent, her…afterlife, was peaceful and she was content. For what else for what else could it be but the afterlife? Regret for those she had left behind had been a temporary state, once she understood. The initial pain and loss had faded, while the memories and love she felt for those she had left behind remained strong and true.

And now she was here. Janet took a sip of the bitter black coffee, marveling at how real it tasted. The ceramic cup was heavy and she cupped her hands around it, marveling at the heat being emanated. The vinyl of the cheap booth seat felt just as real, along with the nicked and scarred Formica of the tabletop. Even the restaurant crockery and retro napkin holder seemed real. It was like some fifties dream, or how she imagined a fifties dream would be, if she dreamt anymore. 

Her cup was almost empty when the gum-cracking waitress materialized at her table, pouring her another cupful and setting down a plate that held two glazed donuts. Janet didn’t remember ordering donuts—or the coffee for that matter, but she replied politely, “Thank you.”

The waitress nodded with a snap of her gum and turned to leave.

“Wait.” Janet felt an unusual rush of curiosity. She was suddenly very interested as to why she was being shown this particular existence. 

The waitress turned back and raised her eyebrow. “You want something else, hon? Powdered sugar instead?”

“No, I just…why am I here?”

“When the mind is opened, the spirit is freed and the body matters not.”

Somehow that existential comment didn’t seem out of place in the kitschy atmosphere of the diner. A slight smile played around Janet’s lips. “You just reminded me of someone I used to know.” The waitress winked and sauntered away, stopping at the counter and chatting with the elderly man sitting there while she poured him some more coffee.

Janet sighed and took a bite of one of the donuts, washing it down with a swallow of the strong coffee. Daniel…he danced across her memory. She had loved him—and had been loved in return. The time they’d had together had been a precious gift and though her time to leave her earthly body had come unexpectedly and without warning, one thing she knew with absolute certainty was that Daniel had been spared because his work on Earth wasn’t done.

Delicately licking her glaze-covered fingers, Janet wiped them on one of the thin, white institutional paper napkins. Looking around, her eyes rested on the large, blustery man who sat at the end of the counter harassing the waitress. Her eyes narrowed, she didn’t like the look of the older man and wondered what such a loud-mouth was doing in the rather peaceful diner. Then her breath caught on a soft gasp when she saw the oh-so-familiar figure wearing the green shirt that she absolutely hated. 

Green shirt aside, a smile gradually crept to her face; love, enduring and timeless, slowly unfurled inside her. Seeing him was an unexpected gift and she wondered again why she was here. Before she could even say or do anything, her view of him was blocked by a coffee pot. 

“You know that guy?” the waitress asked, jerking her head toward Daniel and the older man, while effortlessly refilling her cup.

“I know the man in the green shirt.”

The waitress slid into the booth opposite her. “Never seen him here before today.”

“You hadn’t seen me before today, either,” Janet reminded her.

The waitress shrugged. “Possibly.” Her brown eyes were speculative and Janet wondered just what the enigmatic woman saw when she looked at her. “Might be a coincidence,” she drawled, sliding out of the booth. She grinned and brought her palms together, bowing slightly. “Confucius say: ‘here no bull can hide’.” And then she winked. “Or was it Charlie Chan?”

Janet shook her head and tried to suppress her smile, she had the feeling it would just encourage the woman more. And she wasn’t really concerned anymore as to why she was here, she had known the moment she saw Daniel. He sat at the counter and she watched him for a few more minutes. She couldn’t hear what he said to the older man, but his gestures and the look on his face told her he wasn’t pleased. In a dismissive move, Daniel grabbed the newspaper off the counter and stalked to a nearby booth, where he sat down and seemed to stare obsessively at the paper.

Standing up, she smoothed down her lab coat, realizing for the first time that she wore her customary blue uniform and white coat, her hair pulled back in a French knot. There was even a stethoscope in her pocket. Not at all surprised by the incongruity, she walked across the diner to Daniel, her heels tapping on the floor just like they had at the SGC for so many years.

“Daniel.”

He didn’t look up. “I don’t want any more coffee.”

Her lips curved in a tender smile. “That doesn’t sound like the Daniel I know.”

“Well maybe—“ He looked up then, the annoyance faded from his blue eyes and they filled with gladness before his expression turned carefully neutral. “Not going to work,” he said dryly.

Puzzled, Janet slid into the seat opposite him. “What’s not going to work?”

“This,” he gestured towards her. “Pretending to be her.” Two full coffee cups were suddenly placed in front of them. Daniel looked at the waitress, his eyes hard. “This is a cheap trick, Oma, even for you.”

“Daniel, I’m hurt,” Oma replied. “I have no need to resort to tricks—cheap or otherwise.” Janet’s eyes met those of their waitress and a brief moment of understanding passed between the two women. “Sometimes there are even greater powers at work than mine.”

“Yeah right,” Daniel snorted. “And if I immediately know the candlelight is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago.”

“Order up!” 

The cook’s shout interrupted whatever Oma might have said in reply. She merely shrugged and walked away. “All right! Hold yer horses, I’m on my way.”

“So that’s Oma Desala.” Janet watched her for a moment as she juggled three plates heaped with food before she disappeared on the other side of the diner. Looking back at Daniel, she smiled. “She’s not what I expected.”

“She never is,” he muttered. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but if you’re here to try and convince me to ignore what’s happening and do nothing, you’re wasting your breath.”

When he reached for his coffee, she placed her hand over his. “I would never try to convince you to do something that goes against your nature, Daniel.”

He drew his hand out from under hers, her fingers gliding slowly over his skin. It felt good and so familiar, reminding her of long-forgotten emotions. When he looked at her again, his expression had softened somewhat. “You sounded just like her then,” he murmured. 

“I am her,” she replied gently. 

He sat back in the booth, his eyes full of disbelief. “Impossible.”

Janet laughed. “As a formerly ascended being, I would think you’d acknowledge that there are dimensions beyond physical existence.” He blinked and took off his glasses, cleaning them with a napkin and she gazed tenderly at him. She wasn’t too surprised at his skepticism, if she were in his place, she knew she’d think the same thing. “I can’t explain it, Daniel. I know I’m dead, I’ve gone on to an existence I couldn’t even have imagined while I was alive, so I guess there’s no reason why you should believe me now.” 

She pointed to the headline on the paper. Secret Plan Revealed. Anubis' dastardly plot to regain Ancient Weapon of Destruction. “Is this really going to happen?” she asked, changing the subject, the headline filling her with unease.

Daniel pushed the paper aside. “Apparently.” He looked around the diner then, his voice louder when he spoke. “And apparently nobody here is going to do anything about it.”

“You can do something about it, can’t you?” she asked with sudden insight.

“Maybe.” He shook his head and Janet sensed his frustration. “I don’t know. I think I tried to do something the last time I was ascended, but I failed. Oma says I can ascend again, but if I’m still as helpless as the last time…”

“Then what’s the point?”

He actually smiled at her then. “Exactly.”

“Then you know what you need to do.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Only if you make it complicated.” Janet was filled with sudden urgency and she reached out, taking his hand across the table. “Daniel, whether you believe I’m Janet Fraiser or not doesn’t really matter. What matters is that there is something you can do to prevent the destruction of our universe—and everyone who inhabits it. And the Daniel Jackson I know…” She smiled wryly and corrected herself. “I knew—and loved—would do whatever it took to save that universe.”

He didn’t say anything, merely stared off into space. She recognized that look and felt the unease that had filled her dissipate. She stood then and gently touched his shoulder. He blinked, his eyes focusing on her. “I have to go now.” Leaning down, she kissed his cheek. “I love you,” she whispered and then walked away.

“Janet!”

She heard him call her name, heard the urgency that told her he finally understood. But she didn’t stop. Oma held the door open for her, her eyes filled with kindness.

“Take care of him.”

A look of steely determination filled the ascended woman’s face. “I always do.”

THE END


End file.
